Blocky Hill
by PrincessPeace15
Summary: This is my first story: the story of when Mobius and the world of Minecraft combined. Who knew that the placement of objects in the real world, and the dreams of a person from there, could cause such a thing to happen? This will mostly be from my point of view, but there may be other POVs as well. Rated T just to be on the safe side. There could be romance and minor violence.
1. Chapter 1

As I put my hand on the door handle, my heart began to race. The place we had arrived at wasn't somewhere I hadn't been to before, but it almost felt like it. I didn't even remember the last time I had been there. We were at my favorite mall. There were many awesome places here, like a shop with posters and comics, a pet shop that actually housed real puppies, and my favorite: a video game store.

Ever since Christmas, I had begged my mother to get me here somehow. I had gotten a $50 gift card to this game store. While it does sound stupid to spend it only 9 days after I got it, hear me out before you think so. I had gotten an Xbox 360 for Christmas. Ever since the previous May, I had my sights on getting one someday. And my Dad granted my second-greatest Christmas wish (my first being a laptop or computer of some kind). I did rent Minecraft for it, and I had a blast. I had to return it 5 days later. But it almost hurt to touch the box for the last time. That's not a feeling I get with most video games. I knew that that was my second priority for this gift card I had.

My first priority? Before I tell you anything else, you must know that my favorite series of anything ever was not Minecraft, but Sonic the Hedgehog. I have been crazy about that franchise ever since September of 2012. I got excited whenever it was mentioned by anything or anyone.

You know how some people get attracted to fictional characters, claiming them as theirs, writing fanfictions, and things like that? Do not worry, I am not criticizing this behavior at all! In fact, this behavior describes me almost precisely. Now, most fangirls of Sonic go for either Sonic the Hedgehog or Shadow the Hedgehog. Well, I've seen almost all the Sonic characters being fancied by someone. And yes, I fancy one of them as well. But the bloke I am in love with is not one that is loved by many others. Because of that, I have declared myself as his #1 fan.

Who is this boy, you ask? Silver the Hedgehog. That's right. The time traveler himself.

When I fell in love with him, which was in September 2012, I thought I knew everything about him and Sonic the Hedgehog. But compared to now, I was completely clueless of the knowledge I'd face. I didn't even know about the game where Silver originated, a PS3 and Xbox 360 game called Sonic the Hedgehog. To avoid confusion with the very first Sonic game Sega ever created, most refer to it as Sonic 06.

Ever since I saw the majority of it on YouTube for the first time, I dreamt of having it. Now that I had an Xbox 360, I finally had the chance to have the game in my possession. But you'll probably only hear those words from me. Ever. To everyone else, the game is an abomination. A memory they only wish to evict. But those people were not diehard Sonic fans such as myself. Instead of retching at the thought of it, I strongly desired it.

But that's enough about me. My aunt had taken me to the mall. My mother just didn't want to, probably because it was always so cold and gloomy outside. She had also broke her wrist the previous October, so we didn't have much money, meaning that even gas seemed like a heavy cost.

There was a video game store even closer to my house, but my aunt also had a chore at the mall. She had to pick something up from the Bath and Body Works there… or is it Bed, Bath, and Beyond? I forget. Anyway, we figured that coming here would kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Also, we'd get our daily dose of cute from the pet shop. Just looking at those puppies is heartwarming.

So I stepped out of the car, breathing in some of the heart-calmingly freezing air. We walked into the mall, and after following her while she got some shampoo and soap, we arrived at the game store. We would have split up, but it was just too busy to take the risk. Getting lost is not a pleasant experience, even at age 15.

I was able to search out both Minecraft and Sonic 06 easily. My heart raced yet again as I took them up to the cashier, handing him my gift card. I had glanced at the pricetags of both games, and yes, they were under $50 thanks to Sonic 06's surprisingly low cost.

As he set Minecraft down and picked Sonic 06 up, he got the most utterly confused look on his face.

"…Ma'am," he said. "I don't mean to criticize, but… Sonic 06? Why this game?"

"Because I wanted it," I answered.

"But…" he continued. "…Haven't you seen the ratings? The website I looked at rated it 4.8 out of 10."

"Perhaps I'll like it better," I countered. "I happen to be a diehard Sonic fan. Why do I have to base my decisions on what other people say?"

"Suit yourself," he finally told me, putting both games into a bag.

"Chris!" a shockingly deep voice roared from the back room. "Do I hear you criticizing a purchase?!" That must have been the boss.

"N-no, Rob!" he timidly replied.

"I'll just be going," I said.

As we drove down the road back home, I held the two games in my hand. I do that with every new possession I get that wasn't a gift, simply because I was so happy that I could get them. I absolutely couldn't wait to wake up the next day and play them. See, I had to visit a relative tonight, and we'd be getting home at around 11. I didn't want my first experience with a game to be a groggy one!

This relative… was my father. He had just gotten surgery to amputate an infected toe, and my mother really wanted to visit him. He wasn't terminally ill or anything, but nevertheless, we had a nice conversation with him and didn't leave until midnight. We pretty much left because my parents noticed that I was dozing off in the standing position. That was pretty bad.

When I walked in the door, being greeted by my dog and my niece's dog (fleas had taken over their house, almost killing this dog), I noticed something strange. I had set the 2 games I had gotten by, well, my Xbox 360. I thought I was just seeing things, but I noticed that the small space between each game (they were stacked) was glowing. It was a bright cyan light. I figured it was a hallucination of some kind and climbed upstairs and trudged to my bedroom, crashing almost immediately.

I couldn't wait to play both of these games tomorrow. But then again, I got a little worried. I began to wonder what that light was that glowed from my games. There wasn't anything behind them that could shine a light that bright. A light that bright could never be the result of only 2 hours of fatigue. I seriously began to think that there was something going on. Some sort of surreal magic.

Well… I would see tomorrow.

I'd find out that I was right.

**Author's note: Not much about the characters, but it pretty much sets up the reasoning and background behind the main conflict. If you'd like, you can review, but I'm a sensitive person, so please keep it to either praise or positive criticism. Thank you for reading**!


	2. Chapter 2

While my eyes were not open, I was technically awake once I got the sleep I needed.

But something about the atmosphere around me... didn't feel right. Instead of the smooth mattress I had fallen asleep on, I felt like I was atop... grass. Each little blade of it was poking into my side menacingly. Somehow, I just didn't feel right, and somehow, I knew that I was somewhere different.

Then, like a curtain on a stage, my eyelids opened, revealing to me why I had been feeling this way. And when I did, I was almost entirely convinced that this was a dream of some sort. But in a dream, the main plot of whatever your brain wants you to see during sleep just sweeps quickly before your eyes. Never does one thing happen for more than a few seconds.

But I sat up, staying in the same position for at least 5 minutes. However I had gotten here, it was entirely too real.

Whatever happened to me overnight, I was now taking in the sights of blocky trees, a pig or sheep here and there, a huge mountain, and an almost completely blue sky with little patches of translucent white clouds. Somehow, I had ended up in the world of Minecraft.

Once I finally realized where I was, I slowly stood up. But if I was in Minecraft, the first thing I had to do was think Minecraft. I looked behind me. The sun appeared to only be rising. I breathed a sigh of relief at this.

Then, I walked over to a tree. Now, I actually had to punch it instead of pressing a button. How hard was I supposed to punch? I eventually gave it a light hit. That was all it took for me to get a block of wood. It seemed to take much more strength when playing the game… but I couldn't let that be the majority of my thoughts.

I spent time walking around and punching trees until I had 20 blocks of wood. That was about enough. But how was I supposed to craft these into wooden planks and a crafting table? I stood there, deep in thought.

I wondered if maybe pushing these materials together would do the trick. There was no sort of accessory around that would let me access the crafting menu. That seemed to be the only thing that would work. So I tried it.

And it worked. All the wooden blocks I had were now wooden planks. Now everything was going to be a breeze!

Then, something strange appeared. Above my head, a black box with text within it appeared. It was the achievement for getting wood.

And when I looked back down, I saw that I suddenly had something on my wrist. It was some sort of touchscreen with silver metal around it. On the touchscreen was the standard Minecraft crafting grid (4 squares). Below it, it listed all of my inventory, which at this time was a stack of 64 oak planks plus 16 birch planks. I smiled. This would be plenty enough to build a shelter.

So that's what I spent the day doing. After creating a crafting table and a chest, I realized that I only had enough wood left for the walls of my soon-to-be house. I had the wood to build this wall exactly 4 blocks high, with 18 left to spare.

I opened the door I had crafted as well to get more wood for the roof. To my horror, the moon was rising in the distance. I was out of time for today.

I quickly stepped back into my shelter (a house isn't a house without the roof). While the wall was probably enough to keep even Endermen out, I still felt absolutely vulnerable. But what could I do about it now? The distant sound of an Enderman told me that alas, the game mode was not Peaceful. Meaning that there were mobs out, meaning that no matter what difficulty the world was at, it was too dangerous to go out.

As I used the rest of my wood to make sticks, a sword, and torches (which I immediately lined my walls with), then leaning against the wall, my head on my wooden chest, I kept weary eyes on the top of my shelter. My only danger now was spiders. I kept sword in hand, but I was having trouble staying awake. So finally, I dozed off. If anything crawled in here and killed me, it would most likely send me back to reality. I was once again convinced that this was a dream.

However, when I opened my eyes next, it wasn't to reality. My first sight was the oak wall I had built.

I turned my baggy eyes up to the sky. The moon was in the dead center of it.

I was awakened not by the attacks of a spider (thank goodness). I was woken up by the sound of a Creeper being damaged.

Someone else was here.

I stayed absolutely still. Although I was completely surrounded by wood, I was paranoid that wherever this Creeper was, it would notice me. I didn't need that happening on my first night here.

Then, it was vanquished. I heard the sound of a couple of gunpowder being picked up.

Then, voices.

"What was that?" a graceful feminine voice asked in horror. Whoever she was, she almost sounded like she was going to pass out from shock.

"No clue," said another voice, this one coming from a male person. "… Oh, I remember! It's called a Creeper."

"I see why now," grunted an even deeper voice.

Then, I heard footsteps fading away into the night. I laid my head back down onto the grass, my fatigue almost completely wiped out by my sudden shock. Those voices were frightfully familiar…

Then, I remembered the thing I noticed before heading off to bed in reality. The 2 games, Minecraft and Sonic 06, stacked, with a bright light between the two.

But that had to be completely impossible. Something like that couldn't just… happen… could it?

Instead of scanning for spiders again, I closed my eyes, deciding on my objectives for tomorrow. The very first thing I would do is to add a roof and windows to my house, then mine with a wooden pickaxe, get stone (maybe even some coal or iron), and wield a stone sword.

Why? Because even if I had to venture far from home, I had to find out if my theory was true.

**Author's note: Honestly… I can't thank you enough for taking time out of your day to read my work. Every view means a lot to me. A review would mean even more, so please feel free! **


	3. Chapter 3

I opened my eyes yet again, having been roused by more sounds. These were coming from the mysterious and dangerous Enderman, and it was somewhere very close to my shelter.

Along with the Enderman, there were two more voices speaking. The two others were obviously being attacked by this Enderman, for their voices were completely filled with fear.

The same feminine voice from yesterday cried "Don't look at it! That's clearly what's provoking it!"

"But how am I supposed to see where it's coming from?!" replied another voice, this one different than the ones I had heard yesterday. Yet I recognized it immediately. I couldn't believe it at first. It had to be some other player who just happened to sound that way.

But no. I recognized the feminine voice as well. I didn't even have to leave my shelter for my theory to be proven true. I thought of every possible logical reason that I was wrong. But none of them were correct.

I peeked out of the small holes in my wooden door, seeing not the Enderman or the two other figures I was expecting to see, but that the sun was once again peeking out from under the horizon, eventually brightening the sky to a safe level.

Slowly, and as quietly as I could, I opened the door, took a slow step out of my shelter, and closed the door. Peeking out from around the corner, my eyes widened.

I was absolutely correct. It was, indeed, the two games I had gotten that caused all this. Somehow, they merged. Somehow, they were brought together so that only a few characters of one were brought into the entirety of the other. Sonic 06 and Minecraft… combined.

What was happening before my eyes was that Sonic the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat were battling an Enderman. It kept standing over them, giving a screech that I hadn't necessarily heard before. An Enderman at its scariest.

I didn't want to scare the two Mobians, but I absolutely had to help them.

But that happened in the most unexpected way. Suddenly, Blaze's and Sonic's repeated cries of shock, along with the horrid screeching of the Enderman... they were suddenly silenced. The two Mobians stood completely still, each of them keeping one eye on the mob that was towering over them.

And that Enderman suddenly turned its head, eventually putting its purple eyes in my direction. Somehow, the imaginary crosshairs I had had fallen on it, and therefore, I was about to be attacked. Scared stiff, I quickly grabbed my wooden sword out of my inventory. Well… even if I died, it was distracted from Sonic and Blaze.

It teleported to the space behind me, and I quickly spun around and got a hit on it, which made it disappear. It was battle time.

Or so I thought. Before I could blink again, I was suddenly being pelted with little blue dots falling from the sky. Without a single warning, rain began to fall. The Enderman did not take it well. It cried out in agony many times, seeming to be so helpless that it couldn't even teleport anymore. Eventually, it disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a single Ender Pearl on the ground. If I was with my best friends, I would have said "Defeated is the monster!" However, the only living beings around had never seen my face before.

"Wow," the familiar feminine voice said from less than a foot away. "Apparently, it is vulnerable to rain."

I jerked my head around in shock. Sonic and Blaze were standing there, looking from the Ender Pearl to me. They were actually there, this close to me. For a second, I almost passed out. This had to be too good to be true.

Eventually regaining my composure, I asked "A-Are you guys alright?"

"We are now," said Blaze. "Thank you for defeating the monster for us, uh… may I know your name?"

"Rachael," I nodded. I forgot to tell you, the reader, that. My name is Rachael.

"My name is Blaze," Blaze smiled, holding out her hand. "Nice to meet you." I took her hand and shook it.

"Sonic's the name!" Sonic blurted out, holding out his hand as well, which I shook.

Would it be a good idea to confess that I… already knew them?

I suddenly noticed that they both started to look a bit irritated. It was probably because of the rain. I knew Sonic; he did NOT like getting wet. I wished that I could provide them a shelter, but I didn't have a roof.

That problem wouldn't be too difficult to fix. I quickly sprinted over to a couple of the few nearby trees that were left, demolished them, pressed the wood together, got planks, gathered some nearby dirt for scaffolding, climbed to the top of my "shelter", built a roof, and climbed back down. Did you catch all of that?

"You guys can wait out the rain in my place now, if you'd like," I smiled.

"We'd be more than grateful," cheered Blaze. She and Sonic quickly dashed into the shelter that was finally a house, me following.

"It's not much, but it gets the job done," I sighed as they looked around.

"You're in a better situation than we are," said Sonic. "We don't have a shelter of any kind. We've spent the last two days just wandering around, running into enemies with every turn."

"A random sign posted around here said that we are in what's called 'Hardcore Mode'," Blaze mused.

That wasn't good. Hardcore mode means that if you die, all of your progress will be wiped out. The world will be deleted. We were clearly in some sort of multiplayer server, so everyone here would have to die for that to happen.

But death here would probably have the same effect as death in reality. We wouldn't respawn. Meaning that if someone died here, they were gone for good. That, plus the fact that it was considerably easier to die in Minecraft than anywhere else, no matter what measures we took, our lives would always be in danger. Not just our Minecraft lives, but our very existence.

"Because of the fact that the outside world is extremely dangerous," said Sonic. "I was wondering… if Blaze and I can stick with you until we have a shelter."

"Sure!" I said, so quickly that I wouldn't be surprised if they got suspicious. But honestly, two extra people on my side would mean a lot. And they were Sonic characters! How could I turn them away?!

I decided to spend the rest of the day crafting a wooden pickaxe with a few wood planks that I had left over, then mining. It wasn't easy to get charcoal for the torches I had, so actual coal would be handy. So would cobblestone. Sonic and Blaze decided to follow along. I made a hole in the "floor" of my house, so mobs from above wouldn't be a problem. Once, we ran into a cave, and Sonic recklessly ventured into it despite my severe warning. He got slightly hurt by a zombie, but he turned out just fine after we hastily blocked the hole to the cave.

When we emerged from underground, it had been nighttime for quite a while. I had 3 stacks of cobblestone, which I used to make a stone pickaxe and 3 stone swords, one for each of us.

"There really isn't much we can do right now," I sighed. "So if you'd like, I can tell you some useful information about this world." They both gave me impatient stares.

"Alright, then," I continued. "We are in the world of Minecraft. Blaze, that sign you saw about 'Hardcore Mode'… because we are in that mode, we all need to be extremely careful. In any other mode, upon death, one will simply respawn. But in this mode, death here means… well, death. Our very existence is being jeopardized here. Once you die, you're gone for good. I don't mean to scare you, but it's the truth."

"S-So that's why you screamed when you saw that green guy coming after me?" asked Sonic, pure fear written all over his voice.

"Yes!" I said, the same fear included.

"But you'll keep us safe, right?" Sonic hoped.

"… I can't promise you that," I sighed, a little disappointed in myself. "But I will absolutely try my best!"

"Another question," Blaze interrupted. "You're… a human, right?"

"… Yes," I answered.

"From Earth?"

"Yes."

"Did you happen to know us already?"

"…Yes," I finally admitted.

"I told you!" Sonic boasted, pointing a finger at Blaze.

"Would you happen to know… any of our friends?" Blaze continued interrogating.

"Most of them," I confessed.

"Do you know Shadow the Hedgehog and Silver the Hedgehog?"

"…Yes," I said. Upon hearing Silver's name, my heart stopped for a second.

"So you'd know what they look like," Blaze smiled. "When the sun rises tomorrow, we need to find them."

"We lost them during the night last night," Sonic explained. "… Why do you looked so scared all of a sudden?"

"I'm just… extremely worried for their safety," I said.

"As are we," Blaze nodded.

Strangely, we did not grow tired as the night wore on. We spent the night telling stories and giving out information. They explained that Dr. Eggman had built a portal to this world in the hopes that Sonic would finally be vanquished. Somehow, Blaze, Shadow, and Silver decided to follow Sonic as he stepped into it. Finally, Dr. Eggman had a rather devious plan. If we were not careful, it would work. After that, I lectured them what I knew about Minecraft, no matter how irrelevant to the current situation it was.

But the entire time, one horrifying image would not escape my mind: Silver being blown to shreds by an unexpected Creeper. Gone for good. This may have been what kept me up.

I longed for the sun to rise. But because of my natural shyness, and because I felt like I was a bother to the Mobius crew somehow, I wanted it to remain dark.


	4. Chapter 4

When I awoke the next morning, Sonic and Blaze already appeared to be gearing up. They both had stone swords in hand.

"I believe we're ready," said Blaze, seeming a little impatient. I couldn't blame her. I quickly grabbed my stone sword, stood up, and followed them out of the house.

We then turned right and walked past the spot where the Enderman had attacked them. They seemed to know what they were doing, for they never sounded confused. Also, we never stopped for anything. At least, I _hoped _they knew where they were going.

At last, I saw something that made me believe that my eyes were deceiving me. In the distance, I saw a brown square high above the ground. That brown square soon became a sort of rectangular cube. Then, a tree rendered in my vision. It appeared to be holding up that cube. What I was seeing was a treehouse. I couldn't help but gasp in amazement with a little shock.

To my surprise, the others gasped too. This is when I knew that we were either going to meet someone new or finally find Shadow and Silver.

"Shadow!" Blaze suddenly called, jolting me out of my thoughts.

And there, in the distance, was the figure that made my heart begin to race. The black hedgehog, with his famous red streaks, was walking toward us. He began conversing with Sonic and Blaze with his deep voice, asking them where they had been. They began describing why they had left and their encounter with the Enderman.

This is where my shyness kicked in. I suddenly felt awkward being out on the open. Shadow didn't seem to notice me, and Blaze hadn't mentioned me within her hurried description of their situation yet, so I took this opportunity to quietly dash behind a nearby tree that was a decent distance away. I guess I was planning on being some sort of secret helper. I was just too unsure that Shadow would accept me to show my face at the moment.

Then, Sonic said "And someone saved us!"

"Yes," Blaze continued. "We thought we were going to perish by the hands of this monster, until a girl lured it away from us. Then, she and the rain vanquished it. That type of monster is vulnerable to rain."

"She's someone we haven't seen before," said Sonic. "She appears to be someone who is also stuck here. She's a human."

Then, Shadow's eyes widened for a second.

"Where is she right now?" he asked hurriedly.

"Right-" Blaze answered, turning around, encountering only empty space. "…Rachael?"

"… I'm terribly sorry," I finally sighed, inching out from behind the tree. "I'm really shy."

Shadow nodded right after he saw me. "So you are the one who defeated this monster that almost killed these two?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"What other use will she be to us?" he asked. This was a little discouraging, so I hung my head for a few seconds.

"Don't be like that, Shadow!" Sonic snapped. "Don't hurt her feelings!"

"The last thing we want to do is turn her against us," Blaze explained. "She's an expert on this world we've been trapped in. The information she wields kept us talking all night last night. She could be the only thing keeping is alive in the long run!"

"Aw, shucks," I murmured, walking closer to the group.

"And also," said Sonic, his cheeks turning an extremely vague, yet suspicious shade of pink. "It would just be rude to hurt her feelings."

And suddenly, Shadow became more accepting of me. Like, instantly. He walked up to me and gave me a shockingly friendly look.

"Give me your name again," he requested.

"Rachael," I nodded. I held out my hand in an attempt to get a handshake.

"By the way, she already knows us," said Blaze. "You know how we're part of a video game series?"

"What's my name, then, Rachael?" asked Shadow.

"Shadow," I answered.

"See?" Blaze gloated a little.

"You sorta said it already," Sonic protested.

"Oh… right," Blaze admitted.

Then, one final new voice, echoing from a short distance, yet a distance nevertheless, called out "Blaze! Sonic!"

I immediately recognized this voice and tried dashing for the nearest tree again. I almost made it, but Sonic grabbed my hand at the last second. I decided to stand not behind the tree, but near it, so I could quietly creep behind it.

"Why are you so shy?" he asked, laughing a bit.

"I guess I… don't immediately feel like I'll be accepted," I confessed.

"If Shadow accepts you, I think anyone will," he chuckled. "Silver's a real nice guy. I think you'll like him… wait, do you already know him, too?"

"Yep," I blushed. "I know I'll like him, but the question is if _he'll _like _me_."

Back where Blaze and Shadow were, I saw him. He ran up to Blaze and hugged her first. He looked really happy to see her. Then, he asked her where she and Sonic had been. And she began explaining, beginning with their intentions, which turned out to be food.

"I think he will," Sonic smiled. "You seem really nice."

"Thanks for saying that," I smiled back.

Then, I turned my eyes back to Silver. I had to use all my strength to keep my knees from buckling. It had been a shocker to see Blaze and Sonic in person, but this… THIS was my dream guy that had appeared now! He was actually here. In person. In my sight. I seriously hoped Sonic was right. Otherwise, I wouldn't know what to do.

I could picture what would happen if Silver somehow didn't accept me. Being with the group would feel like force. All I'd want to do is go out alone, hunt for all the supplies they'd need, leave it all in a chest, craft paper and write everything they'd need to know in a book, then run away, back to my house, possibly to build a new one, where I'd never be found.

Or simply wish to do all that.

To evict these thoughts, I turned my attention to what I assumed was their treehouse. It was actually huge. Well, it had to be big enough to house 4, possibly 5 people.

Below that, I noticed a hole. It appeared to be only 1 block big. I silently prayed that they weren't trying to dig straight down.

"I see you've built us a house," I heard Blaze say.

"Yes, now tell me what happened to you guys!" Silver huffed.

"Alright, alright!" said Blaze. "We went out to look for food. Then, we saw a house in the distance. We were going to see what was inside, but then, we were attacked! The enemy was extremely tall, and black…"

"An Enderman?" Silver asked. "…What? I play Minecraft occasionally… Anyway, continue." Blaze looked momentarily confused by what he said.

"Anyway," she went on. "We thought this… Enderman was going to finish us off. Then, someone lured it away from us and, with the help of the sudden rainfall, finished **it **off for us! She's a human, and she appears to be stuck in this world as well."

"From Earth?" Silver asked, seeming really intrigued. "Where we're actually quite popular?"

"Yep," Blaze nodded. "As a matter of fact, she already knows us!"

"Wow," Silver sighed, becoming amazed.

"Not only that, but apparently, she's also an expert on this world," said Shadow.

"I'd like to meet her," said Silver.

My eyes widened, my cheeks started to burn, and I froze on the spot. What sort of first impression was I going to make? Was I seriously ready for this?

"She's over there by Sonic," Blaze motioned over to where we were.

And that's when Silver first saw me. I stood there, trying to make my blush go away and keep my composure.

Sonic suddenly tugged on my arm, trying to get me closer to the rest of the group. Reluctantly, I followed him. I found myself closer and closer to fainting with each step.

However, my composure almost completely returned when we stopped. But still. Silver the Hedgehog was looking at me.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Rachael," I nodded, extending my hand for a handshake. "Nice to meet you." Unlike Shadow, Silver actually took my hand and shook it. I almost froze to the spot again.

"So you know a lot about this world, too?" he asked.

"Yep," I nodded.

"I'm hungry!" Sonic blurted out of nowhere. "What do I have to do to get a good chili dog around here?"

"… There are no chili dogs in Minecraft," said Silver. The look on Sonic's face was almost hilarious, but I have to admit, if I were in his position, I would have been pretty ticked off.

"You can choose from beef, chicken, pork chops, cake, bread, and melons."

"…Which would be the easiest, therefore the quickest, to get?" asked Shadow, quite impatiently.

I looked around. Then, to my relief, there were both a cow and a pig, side by side, right behind us. My stomach almost growled at that moment. I quickly whipped out my sword, ran up to them, and simply butchered them. 3 pork chops and 3 steaks would definitely be enough.

I turned back to the rest. Blaze and Sonic had these horrified looks on their faces. I sighed sadly. I guess they weren't quite ready for that sight. There wasn't much gore, but still. I had just killed an innocent pig and cow.

"Was this treehouse built with a furnace?" I asked.

"Yes," Silver replied.

"May I… enter your house?"

"Certainly! Follow me."

He led me up the hidden wooden steps up to the house. It was even more gigantic from the inside. There were 2 levels, and from what I could see, the second level was completely dedicated to enchantment. All I could see were bookshelves and the corner of an enchantment table. The vast bottom level had 3 beds, almost side-by-side, and a furnace, a crafting table, and a large chest.

While Silver took the meat I had gotten and placed it on the furnace, which appeared to be fueled with coal, I took a peek in the chest.

It was stocked with 1 iron ingot, 26 pieces of coal, 36 sticks, 4 stone swords, 4 stone pickaxe, loads of armor, and 50 torches. They appeared to be all set.

I sighed quietly, yet sadly and closed the chest. There was one question being repeatedly played in my head: Did they even need me around? Silver appeared to be providing for himself, Sonic, Shadow, and Blaze quite well.

"What's wrong?" he asked, jolting me out of my thoughts. "You appear to be sad."

"It's nothing major," I replied, trying my best to shoo my sadness away. "Don't worry about it."

"But you're clearly sad," he countered, putting a hand on my shoulder, making me shiver to myself a little. "I want you to be happy. You're our friend now. Even if we, well, don't depend on you for everything, we're still happy you're around."

"That was what I was sad about!" I exclaimed, perking up and turning around. "That's _exactly _what I was sad about! Did you happen to read my mind?"

He started blushing. "I guess," he confessed, taking the now cooked meat off of the furnace. "I'm sorry."

"This time, it's alright!" I smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder and momentarily looking deep into his eyes. "I'm just happy that you care for me."

"Of course!" he smiled back.

Now, it was almost a struggle to keep my composure through every second since Silver had first laid eyes on me. But the next thing he did… I almost lost it.

He gave me a quick hug. Never until now had I felt the true sparks of irrefutable love until now. When he left the house, it took me a second to follow him. I was mesmerized for a second.

When I finally reached the outside, Silver suddenly tossed a piece of steak at me. I laughed a bit after I almost dropped it, then gratefully sunk my teeth into it.

Minecraft steak was… okay steak. It wasn't something I could eat all day, but it filled me up.

When my eyes fell on the sky, I noticed that the sun was almost about to touch the horizon. Note, I had woken up at quite near the middle of the day.

"Where should I sleep?" I asked Blaze as she finished off the last of a pork chop.

"Uh…" she pondered.

"If you want, I can go back to my house for the night," I assured her.

"I would consider that a good plan, but…" she explained. "…but we're a team. Something about you being alone out there scares me. Especially after what you told us about Hardcore Mode."

"Hardcore Mode?!" cried Silver. "That means that if you die, you're gone for good!"

"Exactly," Blaze nodded. "Rachael, there's room for one more bed on the upper level of our base."

"One problem," said Sonic. "…We don't have a spare bed. It would be impossible to sleep on a hard wooden floor." At this, we all just stood there, deep in thought.

"…I guess I'll stay on guard duty," I volunteered. "My metabolism has already gotten used to this world. I won't grow tired anymore. You all deserve sleep."

"Then… it's decided, I guess," said Silver. I gave him a concerned look. He almost didn't seem too sure…

Anyway, the world began to darken. The sun had officially set. It was now nighttime.

"Goodnight!" I waved as everyone went into the treehouse and to their beds.

I was perched upon a balcony on this treehouse (While everyone else had finished eating, Blaze had decided to make a renovation, which was this balcony). The world was quite beautiful from up here. It was really romantic. But I was on guard duty, so I had to keep my eyes open. Blaze had also lined the house, and everything below it, with torches. Still, I peeked down there every now and then to make sure a stray mob wouldn't try to break in.

My hand became slightly sweaty from the sword I held in my hand that I had absolutely no need to use. It was around midnight when the silence was finally broken.

"Where are you going?" Blaze asked from within the house.

"I can't sleep," Silver replied.

"Is it about Rachael?" asked Blaze. "I must admit, I'm really worried about her, too. But I just know she'll be alright. Nights in Minecraft don't last very long. I made sure every nook and cranny of the house's exterior is lit."

"…I guess you're right," Silver sighed.

And so I spent the rest of the night alone. I watched the horizon turn from black to pink, and the white square of the sun rise.

I watched it all, longing for Silver to be by my side. But I thought that that was a dream that would never come true. He and Blaze were the best of friends. If he was meant to be with anyone, it was her.

I could only dream of the day when my heart's wish would be granted.


	5. Chapter 5

Soon after the sun rose, everyone started walking out of the treehouse and down to the ground. Sonic laughed as he watched a zombie burn to a crisp in the distance. I gave myself a quick pat on the back. I had protected them all. Well done, me. They all stretched, asking each other how they slept. I watched them.

There was one missing. It was only Sonic, Shadow, and Blaze… I became really scared for a second.

Then, a finger tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around. Well, that question was answered. There was Silver!

"Did everything go okay last night?" he asked.

"Yep," I sighed.

"Are you sure?" he continued. "I'd think you'd get pretty lonely just sitting out there, alone, watching the beautiful moon..." I had to pause and think before replying. I wanted to tell the truth, which was that I was quite lonely, but I didn't want to sound self-centered.

"…I guess I did get a little lonely," I eventually confessed.

I still couldn't believe that he was actually this close to me, but today, I was able to keep calm. But my heart almost began to race again. I almost couldn't believe that he seemed to care about me!

From below, Blaze asked "What do you think our first objective should be for today, everyone?"

"Let's see," Sonic began listing. "We still need an extra bed for Rachael, we need a stockpile of food…" Then, he looked up towards us. "Hey, experts! What else can you think of?!"

Silver and I looked at each other momentarily.

"… A map!" I exclaimed.

"We could have had a map this entire time?!" Shadow raged.

"Calm down, Shadow," said Silver. "We need paper and a compass, I believe. We'll need to split up. Shadow, you need to find sugarcane. Sugarcane is a tall, light-green bamboo-like plant." At this, Shadow disappeared. I was extremely surprised that Chaos Control worked in Minecraft. "I'll mine for iron. We'll need that for the compass."

I tried looking for the hole I had found when I first encountered this area. I found it, and it was wider than I had first seen it. Good, they weren't trying to dig straight down. We didn't need anyone burning up now.

"Sonic," Silver continued ordering. "You need to find us some food. Just run around and kill any cow, pig, or chicken that you see. Spare any sheep you find, though. We'll need their wool."

"What do you want me and Rachael to do?" yelled Blaze from below.

Silver stood and pondered this question.

"…You two can do whatever you want, I guess," he replied.

At this, Blaze simply shrugged and followed Sonic, who was strangely not running.

"If you're okay with it," I blushed. "I can tag along with you."

Silver simply turned to me, smiled, and replied "I'd… like that." This made me surprisingly happy. It must have been the tone of voice in which he replied. Anyway, we made our way down to the ground.

"…Pickaxes!" I verbally remembered, stopping in my tracks.

"Pickaxes," Silver repeated, his hand colliding with his forehead. He quickly dashed to the nearest tree, grabbing two blocks of it. I stepped aside from the entrance of the staircase so that he could dash up the stairs, quickly coming back down with two wooden pickaxes. He then handed one to me, with a smile. A simple, cute smile.

He then led the way down the hole that I had noticed. And we spent the rest of the day mining. We mined 3 blocks tall and 3 blocks wide, making a gradual staircase until we reached bedrock. At this point, we had come across 10 iron ores, along with 5 redstone ores that we sadly couldn't mine yet. We looked back up, seeing that it was still clearly daytime.

"…Should we continue mining?" asked Silver. "My axe has a bit of durability left."

"Better yet," I proposed. "Why don't we make stone pickaxes, take the iron we have, make an iron pickaxe, mine the Redstone we found, and mine for diamond if time allows?"

"…That sounds more like it," he nodded.

When we reached the somewhat more calming surface again, we noticed that unfortunately, the sun was making its way back to the horizon again. We dashed up to the house, me putting the iron ore on the furnace, chanting for it to hurry with its smelting, while Silver made 2 stone pickaxes (I was a little confused as to why he only made 2). When the iron ingots were ready, I tossed them to him, and he made an iron pickaxe.

We then dashed out again, facing the disappointing news that we hadn't made it in time. The moon was clearly visible. The coveted body of light, which was the sun, was gone. And I barely noticed that Sonic and Blaze were coming back up the stairs. They appeared to be blushing...

"Did... something happen?" asked Silver, clearly noticing their blushing.

"...No," said Blaze. "Unless you count a kiss on the cheek as something that happened." We both gasped. Sonic was blushing even more. I couldn't believe my ears. I thought for a second that it was way too soon for something like that to happen. But then I remembered that they were already quite fond of each other.

"Aha!" Silver gloated.

"Shut up," Sonic whined.

"Why?" asked Silver. "Clearly, there's a new couple here!"

Sonic and Blaze... as a couple. I was happy for them. I really was!

"We watched the moon rise, and... I guess the mood just set in," Blaze explained. "He asked if he and I could be more than friends. After pondering it for a while, I agreed."

"That's great," Silver smiled. "I'm real happy for you guys!"

"Oh, and we got the meat," Sonic laughed. "Follow me."

He led us inside, where he put 20 chickens on the furnace. Silver looked quite shocked.

"...Yep," he said. "This'll surely feed us."

Later, while Sonic was handing out our dinner for the night (Minecraft chicken is actually pretty good), Shadow returned with our highly anticipated sugarcane.

"Was it difficult to find?" asked Silver between bites.

"It was right around the corner," Shadow grunted. Oops…

When we were all finished with dinner, everyone else went to dash inside. I, however, heard a noise that I knew couldn't be good. That all too familiar sound of a zombie. And… rapid sounds of steps on grass. I whipped my stone sword out. They were somewhere uncomfortably close to the house.

And soon, I saw them. A zombie and its posse. I thought a number this great would never be possible… 19 creepers. They really wanted to bring out the "Hardcore" in Hardcore Mode.

I suddenly knew that I was a dead woman. I backed up a little, saying my goodbyes to myself in a sorrow-filled whisper, as fast as I could until I had to make an attempt at survival.

"Well, this is it," I sobbed quietly. "I am most grateful that I got to spend the time with the Mobius crew that I did, even though that time was way too short. I give great thanks that it all happened to me."

I looked up, wiping my tears away. Sure enough, the zombie and the creepers were all giving me direct death stares, ready to make me the zombie's dinner (even though they'd probably kill the zombie in the process). They quietly tiptoed toward me, and my life flashed before my eyes. I whipped out my sword, putting the attitude of a soldier into gear.

Dying for the ones you love. That's what it was all about.

The battle began. Their swiftness, their closeness… it startled me enough to make me give a short, yet alarming scream. Actually, someone had to have heard that, but with my luck, I figured that I would still die out here alone. I flailed my arm mercilessly, succeeding to kill the zombie and 1 creeper. About 9 started to inflate, ready to explode.

I quickly dashed out of the way before I could be in the thick of the blast, but my body still suffered from the explosions of about 7 of them. I was thrown against a tree and to the ground. I was suddenly depleted of almost all of my energy.

I struggled to lift my head and check my touch screen thingy on my wrist, bleeding from many small scrapes and splinters. I had half a heart left and 7 1/2 drumsticks on my hunger bar. Not enough to replenish my health.

And another creeper was on his way to deliver the final blow. So this was how I was going to die.

But when I saw this distant creeper, I also noticed that Silver had come out of the house. It very much appeared that he had seen the entire situation go down, for he was on the ground now, speeding towards the creeper that was heading towards me. I watched in amazement as he used his telekinesis to pick it up and throw it against the tree that was supporting the house. It disappeared, simply leaving a puff of smoke.

He then looked back and saw me, then dashed towards me, kneeling when he reached me.

"Are you alright?!" he asked worriedly. "Please, tell me that you're okay!"

"I think I'll be fine…" I managed to say.

A tingly sensation traveled through me when he lifted my arm to check my…Minecraft computer thingy, to find out that I only had half a heart and not enough food for my health to regenerate. He didn't just lift my arm… he held my hand.

"I don't have any food with me!" he exclaimed. "Can you move?"

I was immediately driven, no matter how difficult it was, to stand up.

"I'll be fine," I repeated, trying to smile.

When I tried to step with my left foot, I was met with sharp pain that made me gasp. I put my right foot down, and that foot was okay. All the pain was in my left ankle. I was sure that the blast had sprained it.

"…You're hurt!" cried Silver.

"I guess I am," I said, tears starting to form in my eyes. "I think I may have sprained my left ankle…" Silver then put an arm around my shoulders, and I put my arm around his. With his help, I hopped back to the house and up the stairs to the balcony.

"Wait here," he requested, quickly jogging inside, then coming back with a bed, placing it down by the door. "I want you to have my bed. I can make another one for myself."

"Are you sure?" I asked. I always ask that whenever I am offered something unexpectedly like this.

"Positive," Silver nodded. "I am one of the few that has been granted the ability to live without sleep here. And you should rest for at least a couple of days."

"…Well, thank you, very much!" I smiled, climbing into it. Minecraft beds were extremely comfortable!

"You're very welcome," he smiled back, kneeling down my side. He began to blush a bit. "I'm just happy that you're okay."

Suddenly, I noticed that he was gazing into my eyes. So I gazed into his. His eyes were the most beautiful shade of gold that I had ever seen. They seemed to have the gold of a summer sunset. Looking into them made me feel dreamy, almost like all of the possible types of happiness were combining. Yep. I knew I was in love with him. I had been for a while, you know.

Then, we looked away. I tried to make my obvious blush go away. It was kind of embarrassing.

That is, until I looked over and saw that he had a trace of a rosy color on his face as well…

"I'm sorry," he said. "I forgot to give you food to heal." He quickly walked inside and instantly came out with another chicken. He gave it to me, and I ate it and felt so much better. I looked down at my bracelet screen (that's what I'll call it), noticing that gradually, my health climbed until it was full again.

"What sort of future do you think we'll have here?" he asked, looking up at the moon.

"Don't you want to figure out a way to get back home?" I asked. He paused for a second before replying, starting to blush a little more.

"Not necessarily," he said. "I did, but if we were to find a way to get back home, I'd probably never see you again…"

My face felt as if it gained a completely red shade. "A-and why's that?" I asked.

"Obviously, I couldn't step foot in the real world," he explained. "It'd reveal that Mobius is existent, and people would overrun it within days! And I couldn't just take you to Mobius; the others just wouldn't approve."

Was this seriously happening? I actually… meant something to him? But I couldn't pressure him too much on the subject.

"Anyway, if we end up staying here forever," I told him. "We can get everything we need, then go to places like the Nether, and maybe even The End if we're lucky enough to find a Stronghold!"

"That sounds like fun!" he smiled. "You know… I think I could really like living here."

"What about Hardcore Mode?"

"This could be our new life, Rachael! We would die just like in real life: once, never to return."

I nodded. I kinda had to agree with him. This probably would be our new life. And if things came together like I somehow thought they already were, it would be the perfect life.


	6. Chapter 6

Until the moon began to set, I told Silver what it was like on Earth. What it was like to be ruled over by a president and governments instead of a royal family. He seemed really intrigued.

As the world became bright once again and we heard the sound of everyone else waking up, he asked "Is it peaceful there?"  
I wasn't sure how to answer this. I knew how much he loved world peace, and in a way, Earth was not completely peaceful.

"…It all depends on the people there," I eventually said to him. "There are insane people there, but the majority of them are peace-loving. Earth has its ups and downs, really. But in general, it's a pretty happy place." He smiled and nodded.

Everyone else walked out, yawning and stretching.

"What should our objectives be for today?" asked Blaze.

"Let's see," said Silver. "We've got the iron for a compass… I'll mine that redstone I found… Shadow, I need the sugarcane you found."

At this, Shadow held out his hand, which had said sugarcane in it, and obviously, Silver took it.

"Perfect," he continued. "Just the right amount!"

He quickly dashed into the "mine" of ours, coming up with the aforementioned redstone only a minute later. He looked from Sonic to Blaze, to Shadow, then to me. He then walked into the house, coming out about 2 minutes later with a completed map. I smiled. This was going to help us significantly.

"I'm going for a run," Sonic declared, immediately speeding off. I momentarily wondered why he hadn't done this before. I thought that running was like a psychological need for him sometimes.

I won't go into too much detail about this day. At first, it was deathly boring. Silver, Blaze, and I spent the entire day chatting. Shadow had teleported away somewhere, probably to have some peace and quiet, and Silver and I enlightened Blaze a little more about Minecraft (she seemed genuinely happy when we told her that wolves could be tamed and will fight for us if we did so). Then, the conversation shifted to the Nether, and she became tense.

As the sun touched the horizon again, Shadow returned, looking slightly more calm than when we had seen him last. Perhaps he had decided to meditate? Eh. Whatever he did, he was happy… in a way.

Then, Sonic returned. The speed he possessed left a familiar trail of blue in the air that was so bright that one could see it from miles away. He seemed happier as well.

But the trail… from what I could see before it disappeared, it made tiny, sharp curves, almost like his path was very narrow. This was probably because there were trees there, but my thoughts were about something more long-term and depressing. Minecraft wasn't necessarily a place for one like Sonic to run. No matter how many different biomes he may have encountered, they all seemed to look the same: it was all in blocks. Sonic seemed more happy in his video games, when he ran on a world with all sorts of different sights zooming by him at the speed of sound, not just… _blocks_. Also, he didn't seem as jubilant or full of energy since I first met him in person, even after it was announced that he had Blaze as his girlfriend. Anything he tried to say as a joke almost seemed forced, like he was trying to joke around to keep the atmosphere calm in an extremely dire situation.

I should have known this long ago, but I was pretty sure that deep down, he, and all the others, had an extreme longing to go home. Back home to Mobius.

Chicken was handed out for dinner. Everyone ate in silence, and after that, they all went inside to sleep. Even Silver.

At this point, I didn't care that I was all alone at the moment. I cared for my new friends more than anything, and they all showed subtle signs of homesickness. If leaving this world was what they wished for, I would work to help them achieve that goal.

But at the same time, I knew that tears would fall, and probably only from my eyes. If we parted ways, would I return to Earth only wishing that I had not done anything? Would I not see meaning to life anymore?

No. That was selfishness talking.

But this would be my only chance to live in their presence!

For about 2 long minutes, this battle continued. It almost reduced me to tears.

One quick fact about me: I get mild muscle spasms sometimes. Not sure why. But one of these spasms struck my left ankle: the one that had been injured.

And not an ounce of pain resulted.

I felt my face light up. My ankle's movement felt so… free. It felt healed! I had to test my ability to stand.

I slowly lifted myself out of the bed. Sure enough, everything was back to normal. I was crippled no longer.

Now, the only pain that remained was the near-heartbreak that resulted from my final decision. Realizing just how homesick everyone was... I hadn't noticed it at first, but that was when I was caught up in the rush that resulted from knowing them. Now, my mind was back into normal gear, capable of making mature decisions.

I had to help them return to home. The long quest that this would require would provide more than enough time for me to prepare to say goodbye. This would mean going to the Nether, finding a Nether Fortress, killing about 12 or so Blazes (I could never get over the fact that a yellow fiery monster had the same name as a pyro-kinetic cat), killing 11 more Endermen (I had just remembered that I still had the Ender Pearl from the Enderman that was attacking Sonic and Blaze), then getting everyone to venture to The End, where we would part ways either way, whether we make it back to our homes alive or die trying.

As soon as that thought spawned, I rethought my decision. I couldn't stand that thought now. Once we went into the End Portal, we could never turn back. It was either life or death, and life meant excruciating depression for me.

Then again, if I fought for them, they'd always remember me. This thought was enough to put all rethinking aside and have me whipping out my sword and searching for my first tall, mysterious victim.

And fortunately enough, that victim's eyes shined bright like car headlights in the far distance. I squinted my eyes, searching for any more potential hazards. If I could be attacked by 19 Creepers in one group, anything was possible. My hunger bar was completely full, and so was my health bar.

My hand tightened its grip on my sword. Even though the rest of the area was completely clear, I was preparing to walk into a death sentence. Do you know what kind of damage one hit would deal in _Hardcore_ Mode?! I immediately began to rethink this.

I would get nowhere if I didn't attack it. I would only face guilt in the morning. Besides, I had a couple of tricks up my sleeve that I knew from playing this game on Earth.

Sprinting down the stairs, I quietly yelled "YOLO!" to myself. It was in the voice of someone I had seen on YouTube, and it really helped my confidence.

I looked around again to make sure there were no other monsters, making sure to keep my eyesight low. That was the first trick up my sleeve: do not let the eyesight get **anywhere **above the Enderman's lower legs.

Then, quietly creeping closer, I swung my sword and dealt the first hit. He disappeared, and I spun around swiftly, seeing him running up to me, then hitting him again before he could touch me. If I was just a nanosecond slower, I probably would have fallen to this monster. He was fast, making him quite formidable. The same pattern continued: hit, spin, repeat.

Eventually, I began running out of breath. I thought this Enderman would never die.

But fortunately, right as I ran out of combat energy, he keeled over to the side, revealing the Ender Pearl that I had been hoping for. I picked it up, holding it up, striking somewhat of a confident pose. I was that proud of myself.

When I set my eyesight on the treehouse next, I saw that I, once again, wasn't the only one awake. There was Silver again, intently watching from over the fence that surrounded the porch. This made me smile ridiculously. I felt way more proud than I did just 3 seconds ago. Realizing that I did not have the energy to fight _anything _else, I sprinted to the stairs, up to the porch, and… into his embrace. All of a sudden, he was holding me in his arms. A slight adrenaline rush was brewing, and I felt my face turning a deep shade of red again. I almost didn't see him at the top of the stairs, so I was a little taken aback as well.

"That was very brave of you, Rachael," he said. "Killing an Enderman… at _this_ difficulty… that's remarkable! And you didn't take a single hit, either…. Oh, I'm really glad you're okay!"

I couldn't speak a word. Sure, I was definitely proud of myself, but I wasn't expecting Silver to act like this. I expected to_ never_ get a reaction like the one he was displaying. I foresaw nothing more than a pat on the back, but instead, he had his arms around me. It was one of the most relaxing feelings ever.

And eventually, he let go of me. Compared to the physical warmth he provided, added to the warmth of my heart, the air felt bitterly cold for a second, but it then returned to normal.

"Tell me," he requested. "Why did you decide to kill an Enderman?"

"Because I need Ender Pearls," I replied without thinking. "I need them to-" This was when my mind went back into gear and I shut my mouth. Just saying the reason would sound awfully rude; it'd almost sound like I _wanted_ them to go home…

"You need them for Eyes of Ender, don't you?" he said.

"…Yes," I sighed. "I… thought you all wanted to return home. Killing the Enderdragon means completing Minecraft, right?"

"That is true," Silver nodded. "I admire how you would put us before yourself, but…"

I didn't say anything. He seemed to be struggling to complete his sentence, and I didn't want to put any pressure on him. But… what was so difficult for him to tell me?

"…But there's no rush," he eventually said. "Yeah, there's no reason we need to leave this world immediately!"

I almost didn't believe this. Wouldn't it be natural to want to leave a world as quick as possible where one can die so easily? But as you know already, I loved Silver. I couldn't doubt him. Doing that would feel like a crime.

"Besides, the nights here are beautiful," he continued.

This is when I felt a sensation that I will never forget. It practically is unforgettable.

I felt Silver's fingers intertwine with mine. I looked down to make sure that this wasn't some sort of hallucination that my nerves were having.

It was true. He was holding my hand.

There we stood, watching the sky gradually grow brighter, hand-in-hand. I never wanted the moment to stop, but alas, it would when the others woke up again. I just stood and soaked it all in. Never until now had I felt the giddy feeling that indicates that dreams are coming true.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note #1: This chapter includes multiple POVs!**

*My POV*

Everyone walked out once again, stretching. Right before Blaze looked our way, Silver let go of my hand, in a way that told me that it was solely to avoid embarrassment.

There always seemed to be a zombie burning to a crisp for Sonic to laugh at. He laughed even harder than yesterday at one that was right below the house and that was dumb enough not to take advantage of the shade the balcony provided. I laughed a little as well, walking down the stairs, trying to think of my objective for today.

"Hey!" said Sonic. "Looks like your foot got better!"

"Yep," I quickly nodded back. As much as I hated to just walk away from him, it was one of those days where I felt that every second counted.

Last night, I was rethinking my decision to dedicate my Minecraft life to helping the others get home. It must have been in the way Silver had acted. Why was he so nervous?

Today, I assumed that it was because he was trying to assuage my worries. He must have noticed how hard I was working and thought that it was putting a lot of stress on me.

But it bothered me. It somehow felt like it was more than that, but I thought that was impossible. How could I actually present any importance to him?

Either way, I figured that deep down, he was hiding his immense homesickness from me. He still wanted to go home, so I was going to work to make sure he could.

Being the Minecraft enthusiast I was, I knew that the best time to fight Endermen was nighttime. In the daylight, hitting one will cause it to retreat. In the night darkness, they will stay and fight. I wasn't sure why this was, but it was, and I had to accept it.

Since that was true, I had to think of the next things I could do.

The first thing that came to mind was the Nether. Eyes of Ender required Blaze powder. Knowing how difficult it was in the video game, I knew I was facing a daunting task. This was very possibly going to be my death sentence.

However, I still needed a diamond pickaxe, and we hadn't come across that coveted ore yet. That's when I decided I was going to mine today. I dashed back up the stairs and to the crafting table. I looked at my bracelet screen, seeing that I had an abundance of cobblestone in my in inventory, likely from when Silver and I had gone mining.

I looked in the chest nearby for sticks. The chest seemed to stock itself. There were 5 sticks. I only needed 1.

1 minute later, I walked out with a brand new stone pickaxe. I went down to the ground and into the mining hole.

The rest of the gang were nearby, and I would have just gone on my way if it weren't for the words they said at this very moment. I stepped just low enough in the hole so that I could still hear them clearly, but I'd be hidden from sight.

"It's just gotten too dangerous here," Blaze declared. "We have to find our way home!"

"Yes," said Shadow. "We should make that our top priority…. Silver, you claim to be an expert on this world. What do we need to do next?"

Then, a quick moment of silence. Ever so slightly peeking my head up, I could see that everyone was staring anxiously at Silver.

"We need to go to the Nether," he eventually replied timidly. "…Blaze, there's a monster named after you. It's called a Blaze. So don't get confused when you hear your name being used to refer to a monster." Blaze nodded.

To me, it was official. They definitely wanted to go home. Stone pickaxe in hand, I dashed down the "staircase" of stone we had created, down to the dead end of the spot where we had stopped.

For what felt like hours, I swung the pickaxe, gradually sinking lower and lower into the ground. As I mined, I began working up a sweat; it almost felt as if I was getting closer and closer to the Nether. Normally, I would have taken breaks, but here, there was no time to waste.

*Silver's POV*

"We need obsidian to make a Nether portal," I explained. "But obsidian can only be mined with a diamond pickaxe."

"So," said Sonic. He seemed to be shivering a bit. "What you're saying is that we're going to have to go… down there?" He pointed to our mining hole.

"…Yes," I said.

"He's just a little nervous to do that because of something that happened a little after we had just found Rachael," Blaze told me. "The three of us went mining, came across a cave… and he almost got mauled by a zombie."

"Yikes!" I responded. "We're all together now. We'll make sure nothing like that happens to anybody."

"That's good to hear," she nodded.

Then, they all went into the house, probably to try to find supplies. But I stood in the same spot, deep in thought about something that I suddenly remembered.

I was reminded once again of something that bothered me very much. I wasn't necessarily sure what brought it up in my mind. There was only exactly one price to pay if we were to slay the Enderdragon and open up the portal back to Mobius, and I would probably be the only one affected by this If we were to make it home, everyone else's lives would be happy again.

Mine, on the other hand, would be somewhat peaceful, but not completely happy. I would be able to relax; I wouldn't have to monitor a hunger bar or a health bar, and I wouldn't have to constantly worry about bad things randomly appearing on a seemingly peaceful path.

However, I'd be giving something up. I'd have to leave someone behind. Someone who I could relate to, someone I felt happy around. Sure, I felt happy around my other friends as well, but the girl I'd have to say goodbye to was different. She made me feel a type of happiness that I'd never felt before. I wasn't sure how she did it. She had a bright personality, she was very considerate… overall, she was special to me.

The others came out of the house, wooden pickaxes in their hands (Blaze had an iron one). I followed them as they went down in the mining hole, but reluctantly. I wasn't so sure that I wanted to go home. The world of Minecraft almost felt like home to me…

*My POV*

I thought this entire mining session was going to be a complete failure. That is, until I laid eyes on one of the most heavenly colors in Minecraft.

To my left, near the ground, a rock glowed with specks of light blue. I had done it. I had found diamond! I quickly tapped into my bracelet screen to get an iron pickaxe.

An iron pickaxe that I didn't have.

I groaned and sat down against the wall, my hand colliding with my face. Why hadn't I thought of that before? I realized the intensity of my fatigue, which I was able to shrug off until now. Against what I was originally planning, I had to rest for a while.

Then, I heard footsteps. There were no Zombie groans, Skeleton clatters, or Enderman murmurs. The only mob it could possibly have been was a Creeper. I whipped my stone sword out.

When I saw movement, I almost swung it. Then, I realized that if I had done that, I would have hit Silver. He, Sonic, Shadow, and Blaze came running down to where I was. They all had pickaxes except for Silver. To my immense relief, Blaze's was iron.

Almost immediately, Silver knelt down and looked at my bracelet screen, seeing that my health was full, but there were only 4 drumsticks on my hunger bar. There was an awkward moment of silence.

Then, he asked "You did all this mining yourself?"

"Yep," I replied. "And I found diamond, too!" I pointed to the diamond. He saw it and gasped.

He then stood up and said "Blaze, I need your pickaxe real quick."

Quickly, Blaze gave the pickaxe to him. He mined the diamond. It turned out that there were about 8 there! There must have been two colliding veins; I thought the max was 5!

"This is great!" he rejoiced. "This is more than enough for a diamond pickaxe!"

"How do we get obsidian?" asked Sonic.

"It's water on lava, right?" I asked. "Or lava on water?"

"I think it's water on lava," said Silver. "We need more iron for a bucket."

"What does iron look like?" asked Sonic.

"The ore is a brownish-tan color," said Silver.

"I think I may have seen some of that on a run I went on recently!" Sonic exclaimed.

Then, we all dashed back up to the surface. I noticed that it was just after midday.

"Do you think you can go get it yourself?" asked Blaze.

"I think so," Sonic nodded. "Never fear, everyone! I'll be back!" Then, he immediately sped off, so quickly that he sent a quick gust of wind in our faces.

"Let's eat!" Silver proposed. This sounded like the best idea anyone has had all day.

We all grabbed 2 chickens from the chest. We'd need to hunt for food soon. Anyway, we dug in. I was so hungry that it tasted abnormally delicious and juicy. Sonic returned within a few minutes, quickly dashing up to the house, iron ore in hand. Then, the rest went inside while I stood on the balcony, scanning for Endermen.

It took a while for the sky to turn from pink to black, but it eventually did. I saw nothing but darkness for what seemed like forever. I sighed sadly and went to lay down on the bed that was left out here.

Then, I heard it. A familiar sound. I scanned the ground below again. My heart began to race when I found nothing.

Then, the noise happened again. It was as loud as possible, meaning it must have been as close as possible. What I was looking for was somewhere very near here, but nowhere to be found. The story of my life.

Then, looking in the direction I had least expected to find it, I saw its bright purple eyes. The Enderman was on the roof. I should have expected this, knowing that it occurred very often when I played this game from the outside. I made the mistake of placing my invisible crosshairs a little too high, so it immediately jumped down from the roof, landing a hit on me. I was down to 6 ½ hearts. Fortunately, I was full, so that slowly grew to 7.

It strangely never teleported. It walked toward me, and I hit it repeatedly. It was a fierce battle. While I was doing better offense-wise, in 20 seconds, I was down to 2 ½ hearts.

Then, the seemingly unthinkable happened. It may have been the very inconvenience that caused my death. At the very moment I thought this Enderman's Ender Pearl was in the bag, my sword went to pieces. I had not been paying attention to the gradually decreasing durability.

I began flailing my arm madly, able to cause some damage, but probably not enough to guarantee my survival. My health was slowly climbing, but the fact remained that one more hit would finish me off.

Then, the Enderman finally teleported behind me. I turned around as fast as I could and continued slapping it. I had the urge to cry for help, but I had already made everyone else, especially Silver, worry too much. If I could help it, I wanted to take as much stress off their backs as possible.

At that moment, that all too familiar voice cried "Rachael!" from behind me. Then, the Enderman turned a greenish color, floating in a stationary spot in midair. Now, I was able to turn around and look at Silver. In the pose he was holding now, he almost looked like a charming knight. With a quick motion, he sent the Enderman flying into a nearby tree. I could see that it had died because of the movement its eyes made. Then, the brilliant purple disappeared, and by looking extremely closely, I could see that through the darkness, an Ender Pearl fell to the ground. I took a quick scan of the area, then dashed down the stairs, picked up the Ender Pearl, and ran back up.

"Silver," I said. "I can't thank you enough for rescuing me!"

"No problem," he nodded. "Once again, I'm just glad you're safe."

I nodded. I looked away, toward the moon. Once again, he stood right next to me and held my hand. It was heart-stopping the first time, and the second time was almost no different.

"What kinds of things did you like to do on Earth?" he asked. "I've always wondered."

"Well, it's different for everyone," I told him. "For me, it's video games, writing stories, writing or arranging music, singing, and playing piano."

"Really?" he responded. "My hobbies have to be flying, hanging out with my friends, and sometimes Minecraft."

"Cool!" I nodded.

"…You know what?" he said. "I want to hear you sing."

This made me freeze. I never liked singing in front of people unless it was during an official concert or something like that. But then I decided that he probably wasn't one to be horribly judgmental. "Just do it," I told myself.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I don't want to wake the others up."

"Then sing quietly," he countered. "Please? Sing for me?" I looked at him. He almost seemed to be giving me the puppy dog eyes.

"Alright," I nodded. "I want it to be a song you like."

"Well," he mused. "There's 'Cube Land'…"

"By Laura… Shi… what's-her-name?" I asked.

"Yep!" he said. "Go ahead."

I had to stand for a second and regain my composure. I had to wonder how he heard of the song. Then, I took a deep breath, and very quietly, I sang the song. This song was kind of awkward a cappella, but I got over that. I was in the spotlight. I actually did better than I thought I would, considering the slight, yet uncontrollable shakiness in my voice.

Once I finished, he told me "Wow… you have a really beautiful voice."

"Thanks!" I said, almost cheering. I was extremely grateful that he felt that way. I knew that I wasn't going to butcher the song, but I was still really happy.

I looked up at the moon again. I looked closely at its pixels, wondering if it could possibly be smiling down at us. I was just that delirious with pride.

*Silver's POV*

I had known that her voice was going to be decent, but what I heard was amazing. More than I expected. I wondered if she was famous on Earth; if not, I was going to be really surprised.

There was a shocking truth, and yes, it was about what I felt towards Rachael. Not only was she bright: she was talented as well. Her voice was absolutely beautiful; without me expecting it, when I heard her sing, it was as pleasant as the natural scent of a flower on a spring day.

You're hearing me right. I liked her.

On this night, I knew I was going to have to muster up some courage. My feelings for her grew to the point where I'd have to reveal them soon. Also, who knew what was going to happen? With a stroke of bad luck, she could possibly fall in combat, never to return. Then, I'd never be able to tell her.

"…Hey, Rachael?" I said. "There's… something I'd like you to know."

*My POV*

These words made my heart race even more. With my luck, it was probably going to be something contrary to what I was hoping for, but I couldn't be sure.

"Go ahead and tell me," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He took a deep breath. I decided to give him a few moments. He seemed extremely nervous about something…

"Rachael," he eventually said. "The time we've known each other… I've been really happy, and… I-I… I don't want to leave this world!"

"You don't?" I responded. This was incredibly shocking.

"No!" Silver cried. "I like it here! It's always peaceful in the same spot! It all depends on where you want to go! I don't ever have to worry about someone like Eggman Nega taking over the world!"

I could understand his claims, but the entire confession still puzzled me. He really didn't want to go home?

"…Also," he continued. "Going back to Mobius would mean leaving you behind. Rachael… I-I really like you…"

"You do?" I asked without a second thought. I couldn't believe my ears.

"Yes," he asserted, now blushing hardcore. "I like you a lot."

"I like you a lot, too," I confessed. "but… I figured you'd want to stay with the ones who you've known way longer than you've known me."

"Saying goodbye to them will be hard," said Silver. "but they should be willing to accept my decisions. I want to stay here with you, and that's that… unless you were planning on returning home…"

"No, I like it here a lot better," I assured him. "I'd rather die of zombie attacks than of something like cancer or a heart attack."

"Me too," he said. "So… what do you say we help the others get home, then live out our lives here together?"

"If it's okay with you," I nodded. "Sure!"

"In fact," Silver whispered. "Now that that's set in stone… Rachael… I love you."

"I love you, too!" I quietly rejoiced, giving Silver a big hug. Of course, he hugged back.

We stayed like that, watching the moon set, observing as the sky brightened from its scary black to a dull blue. I could see it now: we'd be like one happy couple, living in Minecraft together. If, for some reason, we decided to marry, a villager could be our minister!

Nah, that's looking too far ahead. I was dizzy, which was part of the reason that I hung on to Silver. This was seriously happening. Who would have guessed that my dreams would actually come true?! What sort of event gave me this destiny?

**Author's note #2: Thank you for reading! Any constructive reviews would mean a lot; they could possibly affect the fanfiction!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: Immense apologies for not updating this in so long! I have my reasons. Anyway, please enjoy!**

*My POV*

Everyone else walked out as usual, doing the usual stretches and yawning and stuff. Silver let go of me, once again to avoid embarrassment. Would it be long before he wouldn't have to do that?

I had 3 Ender Pearls. Only 9 more, at the most, and I'd be able to activate the End Portal, right?

That is, if I had Blaze Powder. That was actually the scary thing. Venturing into the Nether would, indeed, be like walking into a deadly pit. With all the fire there, and the monsters that either did or didn't cause it, we wouldn't stand a chance. Yes, Fire Resistance Potion would make the area as peaceful and harmless as a meadow on a summer's day, but where do you get that from? Magma Cream. And Nether Wart.

Then, I gave a small gasp, clearly inaudible to the others. I got a shocking realization.

Would everyone else, except Silver, it seemed, be willing to put their lives at risk just to go back to Mobius? Well, Silver and I were the only ones who knew what we were facing…

"What is our next step in getting home?" asked Sonic.

"Where are the diamonds we found?" asked Silver.

"I heard you say 'diamond pickaxe'…" said Blaze. She actually held out a diamond pickaxe. "We need this, right?"

"Yes!" Silver cheered, taking to from her. "You have good ears, Blaze."

"So, what is this 'obsidian' you speak of?" asked a suddenly appearing Shadow.

"It's black," Silver answered. "If it takes more than 10 seconds to mine, and you're not mining with a diamond pickaxe, you've got obsidian. Besides, if you do try to mine it with something else, you gain literally nothing from it. It just… disintegrates."

"Got it!" said Sonic. "But where do we find obsidian?"

"We need a bucket," said Silver. "You'll probably find obsidian anywhere where lava and water collide. Therefore, we need to find a random pit of lava."

"Saw that on my run, too," Sonic revealed. "I ran all over this entire world. Turns out that in a way, it has edges. When you pass a certain point, it's just… water. Water as far as the eye can see." I noticed Blaze actually smirking at this.

"Good to know," Silver nodded. "Now… I'll go make a bucket real quick and grab water from the nearby lake. Then Sonic, you'll need to take the diamond pickaxe, pour the water on the lava, and mine the obsidian."

"Sir, yes, sir," Sonic responded.

So then, Silver dashed back into the house, coming back out with a shiny, new bucket. Honestly, being in the game, it looked way shinier and new than it did from behind the screen. With it, he dashed down the steps and behind the house, returning 3 seconds later with a full bucket. He then handed it and our diamond pickaxe to Sonic, who ran off.

"This obsidian is being used to make a portal, right?" asked Blaze.

"Yes," Silver sighed. He seemed uneasy. I stood on the balcony, looking down at him, Blaze, and Shadow with the same uneasiness. We were only inching closer and closer to what was very possibly going to be the end of us… was I really ready for this? I began to long to stay in the Overworld, but that wouldn't be very kind, would it?

Before I could make up my mind, Sonic returned with the obsidian, giving it, the bucket, and the pickaxe back to Silver, who dashed back into the house, grabbed some swords and some armor (1 full set), and walked back out. He looked down at the things in his hand, suddenly seeming to become disappointed.

"Everyone," he admitted. "We only have enough armor for 4 of us."

"Should one of us stay behind?" asked Sonic.

"No," Silver sighed. "There'd be no point to it. Besides, we need the biggest team we can get."

Then, Shadow suddenly spoke. "Don't worry about me. I'm the ultimate life form. I don't need armor to take down some puny monsters." We all stared at him in shock for a few seconds. This was a rather brave decision to make.

"Well… if you insist," Silver finally agreed, going back down to the ground and building the portal.

"Is this place really that scary?" asked Sonic. "I mean, with Shadow's Chaos Blast, Silver's psychokinesis, Blaze's fire powers… all the little monsters in there would be no match for us!"

I finally decided to speak. "I see your point, but the thing about the Nether is… there's fire… everywhere. Well, practically everywhere. Huge lava lakes, and a couple of the monsters, one being the one we have to hunt down… well, they're dangerous."

This statement made Sonic cringe a bit. I noticed Silver go back into the house and come back out with flint and steel.

This is where a new mystery began for me. I was surprised I didn't notice it before. Where were all these things coming from? How did they get the material for all that armor so fast (by the way, it was leather)? When did they ever run into gravel for the flint in that flint and steel? Where did all the extra iron we seemed to have come from? Just… how?!

But this was a mystery for another time. Soon, the portal was lit. Its purple glow taunted me. Soon, we'd have to go in it, possible burning to a crisp within the realm behind it. Never to respawn. I had to force myself to descend the stairs to the grass below, tears begging to emerge from my eyes.

I felt an unusual sense of pride when Silver decided to present me with the leather chest plate. He handed it to me with sympathetic eyes, and I took it and donned it hesitantly. He knew that this was the most effective piece of armor… right?

Silver donned leather pants, Blaze had the helmet, and Sonic, much to his discomfort, had the boots. We all had stone swords at this point. I couldn't help but gaze at Shadow occasionally as we all braced ourselves; it worried me if he would spontaneously combust due to his color.

Soon, Silver nervously asked "Everyone ready?" Everyone nodded.

Then, glee began to fill my system. I came up with the perfect measure we could take. I wasn't sure if everyone would be mad at me for proposing something that would take us a little longer, but it was something that would almost certainly save us from death if we were careful enough.

"You guys know that we should make Fire Resistance Potions before combating the Blazes, right?" I asked timidly, afraid of feeling stupid. "I don't believe we all know what we'll be dealing with. They can rapidly fire 3 fireballs at one time, and since we'll only find them near their spawner, they'll be in groups. If we're vulnerable to fire and aren't quick enough, we're done for." I looked down to the ground after this speech. Too many times, I've proposed ideas like this, and everyone would make me feel bad by acting as if they already knew. For this reason, I normally didn't speak out like this.

After a quick moment of silence, Silver cried "Yes! Why didn't I remember that?! For that, we'll need to find a few more things: glass, Nether Wart, and Magma Cream, which may be the hard part."

"Good," said Sonic. "Let's go!"

I took a deep breath, following everyone into the portal with a quick sprint. With a quick swirl of purple matter, we suddenly faced the Netherrack, occasional flames, lava streams, Zombie Pigmen, and thankfully, a Magma Cube, of the Nether.

But looking around, I assumed that only Silver and I knew to stand in the portal instead of jumping through it. He was the only one that was here with me.

After waiting a few seconds, to no avail, he asked "Do you think they'll be okay?"

"I think so," I nodded confidently. "We're just here to grab a few things, one that's right at our feet." I pointed to the nearby Nether Wart. He nodded at me, noticing the Magma Cube and heading toward it. As I picked about 5 Nether Warts, I watched nervously as Silver went through each section of the average battle with a Magma Cube. I was especially worried because he was near a stream of lava. He did get hit a few times, and each and every time, I had to fight back screams of terror. I got urges to step in and help, but he was killing them all really quickly. Eventually, he walked triumphantly back toward me, 3 Magma Creams in hand. Just some sand, and we were set!

Together, we went back into the portal. As the Nether swirled back into the Overworld, we met the confused stares of Sonic, Shadow, and Blaze.

"W-Why did you guys disappear?!" Sonic asked. "We went through the portal, but we were still here, and you guys were gone!"

"You have to stand in the purple stuff for a few seconds," I informed him.

"…Oh," said Sonic. I assumed that he felt pretty dumb, but a glorious sight distracted me from reassuring him that he didn't know better.

Sand. There was, indeed, a lake right behind our house, and there was sand on the shore. While Sonic went on another run, Shadow simply disappeared, and Silver and Blaze went in the house, I did the math. One block of sand was equal to one thing of glass, 3 blocks of glass were needed to make one bottle, and we needed 5 bottles. Quickly, I dashed over to the shore of the lake, grabbed 15 blocks of sand, and dashed back up to the house. Sand felt weird compared to real life. It didn't feel like sand whatsoever; it felt like a rough rock.

Silver and Blaze were having a calm chat when I walked in. I set the sand on the furnace, relieved that we had a substantial amount of coal. I heard Blaze ask about the others back on Mobius, and Silver's responses were… kinda timid. I looked away, trying to act like I wasn't listening, but deep down, I hoped that he wouldn't be compelled to reveal the plans he made with me.

As I set my hand on the glass, a thought struck me, and I became horrified.

We didn't have a brewing stand. I'd have to fight Blazes anyway.

My mind shifted back to my vow to risk my life to get the others home. I then remembered how everyone was so petrified at the thought of going into the Nether. I was a pro here, so I figured I'd go myself, and whoever wanted to join me could join me.

I went out to a nearby tree, chopping it down, then making planks, 2 that I made into sticks. I then went inside and made signs, then went back down to the portal.

Before I continue, I didn't mention that everyone else had the same bracelet screen thingies as the one I had.

I posted a sign in front of the Nether Portal, and this is what I said.

"This is Rachael. For the safety of all of you, I've gone to fight a few Blazes myself." I then made another sign. "It didn't occur to me that we'd need Blaze Rods to make a brewing stand." Another sign. "You can check on whether I've died or not in the chat log, using your bracelet screens. In case, goodbye." I took exactly one step forward, then decided to go get another couple wood blocks, making a few more signs, posting one final one. "I appreciate the friendship you all have given me. Thank you."

The sky grew darker. I looked to my right, facing what may have been my final sunset. I hoped the others wouldn't worry about me. My death wouldn't be in vain; I would have died fighting for a goal that my absolute best friends I had ever known, one being my dream man, wanted to achieve.

Taking an even deeper breath than the one I had taken earlier, I stepped into the portal. The Nether surrounded me again. I took a few steps forward, finding an opening.

I had not expected this so soon, but I spotted the dark columns I was longing to see. Taking a few more steps forward, I found that I'd only have to climb one mountain of Netherrack to reach the entrance, where I could already see one Blaze floating about, waiting for who would probably be his first victim.

I took out my sword and took off towards it. There were no Ghasts around (shockingly), so absolutely nothing was in my way.

*Silver's POV*

Sonic and Shadow returned shortly after my conversation with Blaze ended.

It was a difficult chat, actually. She kept asking about the others back on Mobius, like Amy and Cream. Yes, I kind of missed them. But then, I remembered Rachael. My decision to stay here with her became a little more bittersweet, but still a decision that I wanted to take.

Looking out and noticing that the sun was setting, Sonic, Shadow, and Blaze went to bed. I was about to as well, but then I became worried. I hadn't seen Rachael for a while.

I went outside and called her name. Absolutely no response. I began to panic.

Then, I noticed that signs lined the ground in front of the Nether Portal. It couldn't be… I went down to investigate.

As I read each sign, the composition of my panic was manipulated. By that, I mean that I panicked for different reasons… in a way. At least I knew where she was, but it wasn't a peaceful place.

Looking up to the portal, I did a quick facepalm. It hadn't occurred to me either that we needed Blaze Rods before we could make any sort of potion whatsoever.

Then, I stepped into the portal without a second thought. I just couldn't have her fight those things alone.


	9. Chapter 9

*My POV*

I dashed up those Nether Brick stairs as fast as I could. Hesitation would get me nowhere at this point… that is, unless it was a battle tactic. And it was very likely to be one, actually.

I soon saw those familiar circulating yellow rod thingies come into view… behind a nearby wall, right in front of my face. So I swung my sword a few times and killed it, and it dropped that magnificent yellow Blaze Rod, much to my surprise and relief. I picked it up, celebrating to myself a little. Then, I began to contemplate whether I should risk it all and keep going, or go back to the Overworld and play it safe.

But before I could decide, I heard a voice call "Rachael!" from somewhere in the distance behind me.

To my concern, Silver soon came into view. I was flattered, yet confused at the same time. I ran toward him, waving the Blaze Rod I had, a huge smile on my face.

When we met, he said "Thank goodness you're okay!"

"Even better," I responded. "I've got this!" I held up the Blaze Rod again, resulting in Silver smiling even more.

We simply looked back toward the Nether Portal, dashed to it, and jumped in, the Overworld swirling back into view again.

The sky was still dark, and as a result, there were mobs out, including an Enderman that decided to taunt us from a tree near the house. Silver and I looked at each other for a moment, nodded, and ran toward it. We took it out together, and he proudly held the Ender Pearl in his hand.

Together, we went up into the house, grabbed the glass that was still on the furnace, took it to the crafting table… in short, in about 2 minutes, we had a brewing stand, and then, in about 3 more minutes, we had 5 Fire Resistance Potions ready for tomorrow.

I remembered my fierce battle with Blazes when I was behind the screen. I only needed 3 Fire Resistance Potions to get 25 Blaze Rods. If there were 5 of us, we'd get way more than that, even if most of the others were inexperienced.

We stood out on the balcony, watching the moon nonchalantly float across the sky. As always, he held my hand. It was a magical feeling.

"…Rachael?" he asked, a little nervous. "Have I mentioned already that I love you?"

"Yes," I sighed dreamily. It was still so wonderful that it seemed surreal. "I've mentioned that I love you too, right?"

"Yep," he smiled, blushing more than I ever thought physically possible.

I never thought that love like this could occur so quickly. We were almost like a married couple now, and I loved it, yet was extremely confused about it. Was it some sort of weird side effect of two realms combining? I wanted to know why, but I wanted to do anything I had to to make sure that it could last forever.

"Listen," he said. "I'm sorry if I'm moving a bit fast. It's just that… well, I knew I liked you when I first met you. You're nice, you're smart, you're optimistic, and you're really beautiful to me."

"It's okay," I replied. "I'll let you know if I feel uncomfortable."

"Thanks," he smiled, nuzzling his face against mine for a second. My face was burning with one of many blushes that results from true love.

We simply stood and watched the moon for the rest of the night, sitting down and holding each other.

When the morning sun was up, along with everyone in our gang, Silver and I grabbed the Fire Resistance Potions and passed them out to the others. They looked confused.

Silver then walked up to me and whispered "Do you have a good plan?"

"I do!" I smiled. Then, I announced "Everyone! Listen up!" Everyone had already been silent. "These potions took a lot of work and risk to make, so we must use them in an orderly fashion. When we get to the Nether Fortress, we'll all drink them at the same time. That way, the effects will wear off at the same time for all of us."

"Sounds good!" said Sonic. "Let's go!"

We all ran into the portal, all of us standing in it until we were in the Nether. Sonic looked horrified. The rest of us were chill, strangely.

"It's right up here!" I proclaimed, triumphantly pointing my sword forward.

We all ventured forward, Sonic and Blaze simply marveled at the complexity and impressiveness of the Nether Fortress. Then, a Blaze emerged from behind a wall, and Sonic jumped a little.

"Everyone ready to drink?" I asked, taking out my potion. Everyone nodded.

I'm not sure why we didn't use a countdown. We all simply drank our potions at that moment. From behind the screen, all I knew was that I had drank a potion. Here, however, they had a taste. A pleasant one at that. It was like a strawberry cream soda!

"We can't waste any time!" I shouted, sprinting up to that stray Blaze from before. "Everyone, ATTACK!"

At that, Sonic and Silver made battle cries, and all 5 of us charged at the Nether Fortress, the others going to the left. As I grabbed the Blaze Rod from the one I was battling, I suddenly realized something. Something that had killed me the first time I battled Blazes behind the screen, even WITH Fire Resistance Potion.

I hoped the others knew that running into the Blaze would still damage them. I dashed into the spawner room and made very coordinated swings, being careful to only hit the Blaze and none of my comrades.

At the same time, I got whacked a couple of times by Silver's stone sword. I quickly healed each time, but both times, I heard "Oh no! I'm SO sorry, Rachael!" I would reply "It's cool, it's cool!"

Cool, unlike the atmosphere of the realm and the moment. It wasn't that I was getting attacked a lot; it was that I struggled not to hit any of my friends. I checked down at my bracelet screen, noticing that we had 15 seconds of fire resistance left. We had to leave. Now.

"Okay, we're good!" I shouted. "Now RUN!"

In the rush of the moment, we all ran away and to the portal, which we jumped into and went back to the Overworld.

"Okay!" I said. "How did everyone do?"

"I got 12!" said Silver.

"15 here!" cheered Sonic.

"How'd you get more than me?!" Silver whined jokingly.

"I got 3…" Blaze said, a little disappointed. "I didn't think they'd be resistant to fire…"

"And I got 11!" I cheered. "This is WAY more than enough! BEAUTIFUL job, everyone!" This resulted in a cheer from everyone, even Blaze!

Then, my face fell. So did my heart. Shadow was not here, and I assumed the worst.

Gulping, I reluctantly clicked the Chat button on my bracelet screen. My gut was telling me that I was only going to face bad news.

It was the very first message ever posted on the chat. One of my previous minor worries turned out to be devastating. I had thought it impossible. Tears formed in my eyes faster than they ever had before. Soon, those tears turned to quiet sobs. It was very strange compared to the excitement that was circulating among the others.

Soon, they went silent, and before I could attempt to compose myself, I felt Silver's hand on my shoulder, and I heard him ask "W-What's wrong, Rachael?!"

"…Where's Shadow?" asked Sonic, extremely quietly. I think he was the first to figure it out, and the inevitable gut feeling was suddenly spread to everyone. I went ahead and held out my wrist so everyone could see the awful news, and I was soon met with Sonic and Silver shouting "WHAT?!" and Blaze beginning to cry.

The first message ever put in the chat was "Shadow was slain by Blaze."


	10. Chapter 10

We stood there in complete silence. Blaze continued crying, but now, she was in the loving arms of Sonic. Still, I have a weird thing locked within my personality that makes me feel hurt whenever anyone cries. This, and just the general fact that Shadow was actually _gone_... I stood completely still, silently and gently sobbing, tears coming down my face with no chance of stopping for a while.

I thought we had it all... I thought nothing like this would ever happen. Let alone to the Ultimate Life form.

I began to believe that indirectly, yet definitely, I was completely responsible for it. My sadness made me begin to believe that I was a dumb fool not to shout out the fact that running into the Blazes would damage them regardless of the potion. That I was now considered an ignorant idiot by the others. That I didn't deserve to be allied with them, let alone be Silver's forever companion.

"It's all my fault..." I whispered, almost inaudibly. "Why didn't I warn him?! Why?!..."

"Don't put the blame on yourself!" Sonic told me. My whisper must have been just loud enough to register in his ears. "It's not your fault whatsoever! Shadow just grew reckless. He was pushed to his breaking point; he was extremely impatient with having to stay with us in this world.

"Yeah, but..." I countered, struggling to speak smoothly. "but if he knew not to run into the Blazes, he'd still be with us!" Then, I just lost it, bursting into tears and falling to my knees. I was thoroughly embarrassed, but I just couldn't control myself for a few seconds. I was able to calm down a bit when I felt a hand on my shoulder, though. Opening my eyes, wiping them, and finally regaining my composure, I saw that it was Silver's hand, and that he was kneeling down beside me.

"If Shadow knew what was best for him, he would have gotten out of there when he knew that he was being hurt," said Sonic.

"I don't think he was that dumb," I snapped. "He probably didn't know what was hitting him..." Another few tears ran down my face.

"His death was not your fault, Rachael!" said Silver. "It was nobody's, but if anything, it was his own! One thing he didn't realize about the world of Minecraft was that you need to take your time and _be careful_."

These statements made me feel a whole lot better. My tears were still not dried because of the fact that _Shadow was gone_, but I was able to compose myself and simply mourn instead of being attacked with guilt to a breaking point.

"You're right," I sighed. "Sorry for my behavior."

"It's alright," said Sonic. "This is a tough time."

Indeed, it was. We stood in silence for another few minutes, Blaze still in Sonic's arms and Silver's hand still on my shoulder. We found it hard to comprehend the fact that he was really... gone forever...

We were so absorbed in bewilderment and sadness that we did not realize that the sun had set a long time ago. Out of nowhere, I felt Silver take his hand off of my shoulder, and I heard him cry "OW!" Then, to my shock, he took my hand, and we both ran back up to the house. It was clearly a monster, and all sadness was replaced with fear for a minute. Sonic and Blaze noticed it next, cried, and did the exact same thing we did.

"What was it?!" asked Silver.

"It was green," said Sonic. "Walked on two legs."

_Extremely _relieved that it was not a Creeper, I took a deep breath, calming myself down.

"We should get to sleep," Blaze said with a nervous chuckle.

"Let's do that," said Silver with the same nervous chuckle. We all went inside. At first, I was a little disappointed that Silver and I weren't getting more alone time, but then I remembered that if all went as planned, we'd get years and years of alone time!

I took what used to be Shadow's bed. Before climbing in, I looked down at it, one more tear running down my face.

Climbing into it, I decided to look ahead. Normally referred to as "the future", but I couldn't help but think of it as "my Heaven." Me and Silver, living in Minecraft, together, alone, in harmony... and if things were to go extremely well, we'd have a wedding run by Villagers, a cat as the flower girl, a wolf as the ring bearer... okay, that's a little exaggerated, but I can dream, right?

I heard a sound throughout the night that would not stop bugging me. I couldn't sleep! It was the call of the Enderman, and I knew there were at least 2 of them nearby. I was eventually driven to quietly get up and go outside.

Sure enough, on another part of the balcony (keep in mind, the balcony went all the way around the house), there were the 2 Endermen I had been hearing. I quickly tiptoed inside, sifted through the chest for a few cobblestone and a stick, and made a sword. Then, I went back out. Still, they were right next to each other. Would I be able to take one out without accidentally provoking another?

Fortunately, this problem was quickly resolved when Silver suddenly came out of the house. I began to wonder how he always knew to be there whenever there was even the slightest possibility of me being in danger... Anyway, he saw the 2 Endermen and got his sword out.

"I'll take the first," he said quietly. "Then, you go after the other."

He moved his head carefully. He really was smart. He knew that he had to look at the first without looking at the second. Soon, the first one saw him and teleported behind him, and Silver responded by hitting it. He responded to each and every movement the Enderman made like a ninja.

I looked at the second one, and it decided to fight me. I was able to hit it every time it got near me. Eventually, just as I was running out of breath, it cried out in anguish and dropped an Ender Pearl. After I picked mine up, I turned around and smiled at Silver, who had an Ender Pearl in his hand as well. I grew really excited. It wasn't that I wanted to be rid of Sonic and Blaze, but I wanted to make them happy by giving them the chance to go home. We were 2 steps closer to that in one night.

"How many do we have total?" he asked. "I've got 2 now."

I quickly took a look at my bracelet screen to find out that I had 5. If he had 2, that would mean that we only had to find 5 more, for we had 7 total.

"5!" I smiled. But then, I noticed that he was staring at something behind me. His face held a mixture of disgust, shock, and excitement.

"...Look," he gasped, pointing in that direction. I turned around, slowly, for I knew that whatever he had seen, it was something to be shocked about.

When my view finally did shift in that direction, my face widened like you wouldn't believe. There were Endermen there. Not 2, not 3... but 5. So it was true what I read in the Wiki once. That they can spawn in groups of 5.

"Oh dear..." I said. "...Should we wait for them to spread out?"

"Probably," said Silver.

We watched them meandering around. After what seemed like about 2 minutes, they were safely scattered. I took out my new sword, the attitude of a soldier kicking in again. He did the same.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yep," I nodded.

And we dashed down the stairs, starting with a couple that were on the left. We took them down easily (I realized how quickly Silver's telekinesis could take one of those things down). We carefully murdered the rest without a problem! Pretty soon, he held 3 more Ender Pearls, and I held 2 more.

Looking to my left, I saw yet another. I went and murdered that one as well. I was feeling pumped, I did not have a single scratch, and we'd probably need an extra Eye of Ender to even find the Stronghold!

So I ran back to Silver, holding yet another Ender Pearl. Without me expecting it, his arms were open. When I got to him, I was in his embrace again. I was happier than I had ever been before. I could have squealed and jumped all night, but that'd be a little awkward, wouldn't it? So I simply smiled the biggest smile I had ever smiled before while we hugged each other.

Then, we let go, went back into the house, turned the Blaze Rods into Blaze Powder, crafted 13 Eyes of Ender, and went back outside. Silver threw one. My face fell. I was expecting to go on a long journey to find this Stronghold. The Eye of Ender stopped in midair above the little "front yard" of our house, and fortunately dropped to the ground instead of disintegrating.

We ran down, and Silver picked it up. When he threw it again, something happened that was against all odds whatsoever.

It wouldn't go anywhere. It flew just inches above the ground before dropping again. The Stronghold was right below our feet.

"Should we dig diagonally down in this direction from the mining hole over there?" Silver asked gleefully.

"Sure!" I cheered ridiculously.

We ran over there, got any spare pickaxes we had out, and dug, then mined. We went down one level each time. Eventually, we reached the glorious sight of stone bricks, causing us to give each other a high-five.

This is where I determined that we were being given a Mary Sue situation. Bear with me, readers. We mined the side of the wall, coming across the End Portal. Looking in, we found that there was already 1 Ender Pearl in one of the frames.

"We've done it," he said, sounding mesmerized. "...We made it! We found a Stronghold!"

We were overflowing with joy, and before I knew it, yet again, I was in his arms. I hugged back, as tight as I could without making him feel uncomfortable. Tight, with all the excitement, happiness, and pride I was feeling.

"Rachael," he said quietly. "I feel like I don't say this enough. I love you. I love everything about you; your courage, your optimism... everything. I know we've only been together for a somewhat short time, and you can go ahead and say 'no' if you want, but... may I... kiss you?"

I was swept with a wave of shock and happiness. I was ready, but this would be my first kiss... _ever_. At first, I didn't feel ready, but then I decided that if I never did take the chance, I would never be ready. In short, I was ready.

"S-Sure," I whispered. I was so happy that I could not make sound with my voice. I wasn't even concerned with the fact that he was a hedgehog and I was a human, and clearly, he wasn't either. We both spoke English. We both acted and felt like humans in a way. The species we each were didn't seem to matter one bit.

And it happened normally. We both leaned in, closed our eyes, and locked lips. The moment was more magical than anything I had ever felt before. I was oblivious to all else. It was a feeling that would save me from any sort of sadness, anger, stress... negative feelings of that nature. It was like absolutely nothing I had ever felt before. In my mind, it was rainbows and flowers everywhere. I felt the sparks of true love that they mention in some romance novels. That kind of electrical current that connected us and reassured us that it was true, irrefutable love we had for each other. I'm guessing some of you know what I'm talking about, right?

When we broke apart, the sky was already a dark shade of blue. When I thought the sun would completely rise... it began to rain. I thought I had just missed my "kiss in the rain" opportunity.

That is, until we leaned in and kissed again, this one being for a shorter time. To recover from the lasting effect of our first kiss, we continued to hold each other close and let the rain fall on us.

That is, until we heard Blaze called "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" When we saw her and Sonic appear above us, at the top of the hole, we separated, but not too quickly. I was proud of our relationship, and so was he, I knew. We didn't need to hide it anymore.

"I knew it," Sonic boasted. "I knew it from the first day you two met each other."

"Now, Sonic-" laughed Blaze.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop," said Sonic. "You guys are a cute couple! So, what's this you've found?"

"A Stronghold," said Silver. "We need to gear you two up, then once you enter, it's either Mobius... or death."

"You're saying once we go in, we can't simply come back out, like we can with the Nether?!" Sonic worried.

"Unfortunately, that's correct," I nodded gravely.

"And what do you mean by 'us two'?" asked Blaze. "...You mean you aren't coming with us?!"

**Author's note: The description of the kiss was unfortunately not based off of real life. I'm like the Forever Alone guy. That aside, PLEASE leave a review! Do you have any idea how much your opinions mean to me? **


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